- Ansel Elgort, The Fault In Our Stars, 2013. For author John Green’s moving love story of two victims in a cancer support group, Wolff, Robinson, Noah Silver, Brenton Thwaites were examined for Gus – who became a superb Elgort opposite his (idem) Divergent sister, Shailene Woodley. Wolff became Isaac – his second John Green character since Quentin in Paper Towns, 2014.
- Tom Holland, Captain America: Civil War, 2015. Wanted: a new and younger Spider-Man for what amounted to The Avengers: Part 2.5 and, of course, a teaser for future Spideyverse tales. Despite vigorous interest from Brits Daniel Radcliffe to Freddie Highmore, the reported ten finalists to succeed Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker were: Timothée Chalamet, Canadian Liam James, Logan Lerman, Judah Lewis, Matt Lintz, Dylan O’Brien, Charlie Plummer, Chandler Riggs, Charlie Rowe, Nat Wolff. Plus Londoner Asa Butterfield, way too tall in his tests with a shorter Robert Downey Jr (but OK to co-star with Chalamet in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, 2015). During a 2013, Holland said what he wanted an action movie with humour. “Maybe Spider-Man, in ten years’ time. The reboot of the reboot, if they do that.” They did. He did – becoming the youngest Spidey on June 23, 2015. The hero was 15, the actor was 19. His predecessors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were 25 and 27 back in their day
- Tye Sheridan, Ready Player One, 2016. Nick Robinson and Nat Wolf were also up for Wade Watts/Parzival in Steven Spielberg’s “third most diffilcult film” (after Jaws and Saving Private Ryan), a razzle-dazzle take on Ernest Cline’s nove. Including a blink-and-you-miss-’em array of such classic movie nods as Akira’s motor-bike, an Alien loader, Back to the Future’s De Lorean, the 1966 Batmobile, Boba Fett, Chucky, Dr Who’s TARDIS, Firefly’s Serenity, Iron Giant, Ray Harryhausen’s cyclops King Kong, RoboCop’s ED-209 robot, Jurassic Park’s T Rex, real flootage from The Shining and m uch, much more.
- Keith Stanfield, Death Note, 2016. Zac Efron in 2009 slowly, surely became Wolff in 2015 – as ) as the word’s top ’tec, known simply as L in the first Hollywood take on the acclaimed manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The tale of the high school kid out to kill all the world’s villains just by writing their names in a very special notebook had already been filmed five times in Japan.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Usual occupation: SingerCasting Calls: 4